The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
Article
"That part of America, now called Virginia"
Image
In 1590, John White published the first separate map of “Virginia” and the first printed record of Sir Walter Raleigh’s...
Article
A Beardless Boy of Seventeen Years
Image
Even before Aristophanes wrote of Lysistrata’s plan to end the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) by convincing the women...
Article
A House Built of Virginia Stone
Image
Approximately forty miles south of Washington, D.C., the Aquia sandstone quarry on Government Island sits quietly in the...
Article
A Life Rediscovered: The Story of Emily Winfree
Image
Emily Winfree, an African American woman who lived through slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow, never...
Article
A Spoon That Got Around...
Image
This silver serving spoon, labeled as “A Spoon That Got Around," was on view in The Story of Virginia exhibition in the...
Article
Abolitionist Pitcher
Image
Learn about how this pitcher based on Uncle Tom's Cabin was used as propoganda in the mid-1800s.
Article
Advice and Etiquette Books
Image
Studying etiquette books offers researchers a glimpse of how people interacted and how they adapted to their changing...
Article
Affidavit, 1693
Image
This affidavit informs the governor that Frank, a man of African descent enslaved by Henry Gibbs, has been jailed on...
Article
Arthur Ashe Jr.’s Family Tree: Tracing the Blackwell Family to 1735
Image
See a rare family tree, drawn by hand on canvas, tracing Arthur Ashe, Jr.’s family.
Article
Audubon's The Birds of America
Image
In the VMHC collections are several rare editions of his work, including a first edition of Viviparous Quadrupeds and...
Article
Audubon's Viviparous Quadrapeds
Image
Following the success of his Birds of America, John James Audubon began to gather material for an equally ambitious...
Article
Birthday Songs for George Washington
Image
Though you might not expect it, 1932 was a big year for George Washington. It marked the 200th anniversary of Washington...
Article
Booker T. Washington
Image
Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was born enslaved on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia. After emancipation...
Article
Children's Manuscripts
Image
Prominent Virginians are well represented in the many manuscripts housed at the VMHC. However, documents by individuals...
Article
Clarise Sears Ramsey
Image
Charlotte Clarise Sears Risley Harrold Ramsey (1867–1922), whose parents were Joseph Henry Risley and Mary Elizabeth...
Article
Colonial Cookbooks
Image
Food and dining were integral to social life in the eighteenth century, particularly among the upper class. The gentry...
Article
Colored Knights of Pythias Helmet (c. 1890)
Image
Race has been a divisive issue throughout American history, and this impressive helmet tells part of the story.
Article
Confederate Imprints
Image
Before secession, most of the established publishers of booking, broadsides, and sheet music were located in such large...
Article
Convict Leasing
Image
For much of the twentieth century, convicts worked on Virginia’s roads. This practice grew out of the convict lease...
Article
Diary of William Gwathmey, 1859
Image
On October 16, 1859, John Brown led eighteen followers in a raid on the federal arsenal and armory at Harpers Ferry...